Summary
- Transportation
Secretary Sean Duffy announced Union Station takeover. - Department
to manage Washington’s central train and bus hub. - Move
part of Trump administration’s crackdown on nation’s capital. - Aims
to improve safety, cleanliness, and attract more tenants.
When and how Mr. Duffy would implement his proposed
redevelopment initiative were unclear at first, as was whether it would make
use of some of the controversial strategies the Trump administration has used,
such as evicting homeless people from federally held property in other areas of
the city.
“We think that we can manage the property better, bring in
more tenants, bring more revenue,”
Mr. Duffy said, framing the move as part of
President Trump’s efforts to tackle crime, remove homeless encampments and
invest in beautification projects across the city.
“We think we can make this the premiere train station not
just in America but the premiere train station in the world,”
he added.
However, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser stated that a
greater federal engagement in Union Station might be “a very significant
and good investment for the region,” especially if it were complete.
“If it’s about what Union Station needs for its total
transformation, that would be an amazing initiative for the federal government
to take on,”
she told
reporters, noting she had discussed Union Station’s needs with the president
after his most recent election, before he returned to the White House.
Union Station has been controlled by the Transportation
Department since the early 1980s, but the local nonprofit Union Station
Redevelopment Corporation now manages day-to-day operations and the planned
enhancements.
In order to better raise the funds required to renovate the
station, the department said in a statement that it would renegotiate a
cooperative agreement with the nonprofit and Amtrak, the national passenger
rail service.
Under a sublease, Amtrak assumed management and operations
of the station from the charity last year. The president chooses Amtrak’s board
of directors, and the US government owns the majority of the company.
Union Station features a small three-story mall next to the
transit facilities, as well as a charming center hall designed in the
Beaux-Arts style. However, many of its stores were shuttered during and after
the Covid outbreak. The department also stated that the station’s roof,
lighting, security, and elevators needed to be improved.
“We are going to make the investments to make sure this
station isn’t dirty, to make sure we don’t have homelessness in Union Station,”
Mr. Duffy said, adding,
“We want a place where businesses want to obtain leases
and set up shop and serve the community of D.C. but also people who travel into
D.C. via train.”
Formalization of the amendments is anticipated in September.
The estimated $8.8 billion, 13-year Union Station reconstruction plan was
finalized last year, although it is uncertain if they may have a significant
impact.
Formalization of the amendments is anticipated in September.
The estimated $8.8 billion, 13-year Union Station reconstruction plan was
finalized last year, although it is uncertain if they may have a significant
impact
In an executive order earlier this week, Mr. Trump
officially called on the Transportation Department to support his crackdown on
the city. He directed Mr. Duffy to look into whether the city was adequately
protecting the safety of transit workers and directed the department to
“take appropriate remedial action that is within the Department of
Transportation’s authority” to address any shortcomings.
National Guard forces have been seen in Union Station and
many metro stations in the downtown area since Mr. Trump intensified his
crackdown on the capital.
What legal steps allowed DOT to reclaim management from the
nonprofit?
The DOT has owned the Union Station structure since the
early 1980s, and as such has the legal capacity to exercise power over the property.
The USRC, a non-profit, managed Union Station based on an
agreement with DOT, but did so without ownership stakes.
In April 2017, DOT, under Transportation Secretary Sean
Duffy, used its property ownership rights to terminate or renegotiate the management
agreement with USRC to regain control of the station.
Because the building is federally-owned and DOT owned the
property, DOT does not exercise power to take over operational control of Union
Station based on ownership; it would be based on DOT’s legal contractual and
administrative rights to transfer back to DOT.
